Forcing The Market

Supporters of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA)
also claimed that it will reduce greenhouse gases. Both Speaker Pelosi
and then-President Bush said the bill will help reverse global warming.
Indeed, much of the early enthusiasm for biofuels was based on the
belief that their use would reduce greenhouse gases. It is true that
burning biofuels results in less tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases
relative to burning petroleum. Yet this ignores the increase in
emissions that results from the production of biofuels, especially the
land use changes as farmers convert forest and grassland into cropland
for biofuel production. An article published in Science magazine in 2008
found that “corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse gas emissions
over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years.” Another
article in Science concluded that crop-based biofuels create a “biofuel
carbon debt of 17 to 420 times more carbon dioxide than the greenhouse
gas reductions that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil
fuels.”

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